In Široki Brijeg, on Wednesday, the 79th anniversary of the Yugoslav communist crime against Herzegovinian Franciscans was commemorated with a requiem mass.
The prayer program began at 4 p.m. with a prayer near the wartime shelter where members of the Široki Brijeg Franciscan Youth (Frame) lit 12 candles in memory of the 12 friars who were killed and burned in that shelter. After the prayer, a procession moved towards the monastery church.
The prayer at the tomb containing the remains of the 24 discovered slain friars was led by the provincial of the Herzegovinian Franciscan Province, Fra Jozo Grbeš, as stated by the Vice-Postulation for the Process of Beatification and Canonization "Fra Leo Petrović and 65 Companions."
"The Yugoslav communists, with the intention of crushing the faith in Herzegovina, on that cold day in February, raiding the monastery in Široki Brijeg, found 12 friars, took them to the wartime shelter, killed them, poured gasoline on them, and then set them on fire. This was the prelude to all subsequent events, to the unjustly killed friars in Mostar, Čitluk, Ljubuški, and many other places, a total of 66 of them, as well as to the killed members of God's people," the statement reads.
Provincial Fra Jozo Grbeš emphasized the speech of love and the speech of truth in his sermon.
"Their bodies were destroyed, buried, burned, hidden to disappear from life and memory of people, but their names live. Their lives are resurrected. This truth cannot be hidden because it has a divine foundation (...)," said Fra Jozo.
The Vice-Postulation noted that every year an increasing number of believers visit Široki Brijeg on the anniversary of the slain friars.
This year, buses from Čitluk and Međugorje arrived with pilgrims, and 17 of them walked from Čitluk to Široki Brijeg. The Croatian Homeland War Army from Split also participated in the anniversary. Furthermore, 530 students and staff from the I. Elementary School in Široki Brijeg made a pilgrimage to the graves of the slain friars.
The massacre of friars in Herzegovina marks a series of massacres committed out of hatred towards the Catholic Church by the partisans during and after the end of World War II in Herzegovina. Without trial, they killed 66 Franciscans and arrested and imprisoned 78, as stated by the Vice-Postulation.
